Reality
of Illusion: Discerning Identity within Art and Theater Constructs

A St. Mary's Project

Spring 2001

Artist's Abstract:

I am interested in the gallery
space functioning as a stage. The barren nature of unoccupied
gallery walls and neutral carpeting is as much of a fresh canvas
as a clean sheet of paper, or indeed that of a stage where the
curtain is drawn. It is generally known what to expect in each
of these situations. Viewers in a gallery expect to have images
to digest. Theatergoers anticipate performance-moving bodies and
illusions of a different reality that in some way comment on the
human experience. I wish to incorporate the expectations inherent
in both of these mediums in my work.
Through various approaches to self-portraiture which include drawings,
marionettes and an installed environment, I want to set up a dialogue
between the metamorphic nature of self image, the internal and
external landscape, and the potential for a viewer to become the
author of a work as well as its audience on the basis of a shared
humanity. My self-portraits exist both as charcoal drawings on
paper and articulated puppet forms installed in an environment.
Both types of portraits are designed around my facial and body
structure but are not intended to be strict representations of
my appearance. Instead, the two versions of portraits are intended
to be records of specific internal and external conditions that
I feel define my identity. These records contain a heightened
sense of emotion and dramatic flair that I perceive as necessary
elements to engage and communicate effectively with an audience
as well as being defining aspects of my personality. The portraits
also function as masks as no one portrait is an exact match of
either my appearance or internal condition but rather a stylized
version of it, emphasizing elements of the body and face I feel
to be most expressive of specific states of mind.
The series of portraits can be realized as a continuum; a metamorphic
timeline, representing various versions of self-perception over
a set period. They are drawn on the same size paper and hung at
eye level so that they might mimic a series of mirrors; reflecting
what I saw while drawing myself and also potentially mirroring
aspects of an audience's own set of self-perception. Throughout
the course of my work, I have raised this question to myself-is
any sort of individualized personal/emotional landscape a strong
enough bridge to make art upon? I conclude from being a hungry
observer of human nature that specific vulnerabilities and defects
in a person is fascinating, in both theater and 'real life'. Therefore,
I would be glad if people came to view and dissect my work with
the same sick fascination one might have with reading a stranger's
diary; learning about themselves as they inspect the bared innards
of a fellow human.